


Behind the Mask

by Saraphinethemysterious



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-17 12:44:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5870104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saraphinethemysterious/pseuds/Saraphinethemysterious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ladybug finally decides it’s time for Cat Noir to know who she is but in the process some other secrets are revealed. One-shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Ladybug and Cat Noir had just finished defeating The Florist, a school girl turned evil after kicked out of her gardening club for doing everyone’s work for them out of pure love for the art. She was a sweet, passionate girl turned bad but thanks to the crime fighting team, all was well again.

It was a close call though. Since the villain had control over everything environmental there was a moment where both Cat Noir and Ladybug were caught. For just a moment, Ladybug saw no way out. She had already used her lucky charm and for the first time, it didn’t work.

She thought that may be it—the end.

After all, there was nothing left to do.

Cat Noir had already used Catecysm and his time until transforming back was counting down too. The Florist would surely destroy them before that though.

It wasn’t until he managed to claw free of a vine restricting his hands that Ladybug’s doubts left her. Still, once The Florist was defeated and all the damage was undone, Ladybug was hesitant to leave the abandoned storage facility.

It seemed her partner sensed something was off and instead of racing to whatever other life he had, he stayed as well. “Something wrong Bugaboo?” He took a seat next to her on the edge of the second level balcony looking over the main floor.

She thought back to their conversation a few weeks ago. She was running out of time and went into a closet to transform back to Marinette. Cat Noir stopped her from closing the door though. He promised he would never tell anyone her secret if she revealed her identity to him and despite the humorous tone in his voice, she knew his words were true. She responded that they needed to keep their identities a secret but now, she was starting to regret that.

Instead of telling him that she was rethinking the choice she made, she asked, “How much time do you have left?”

He knew what she was talking about and looked down at his ring. “About 5 minutes—You?”

“Same.”

It was silent for a moment as they both sat there, so close to each other, taking in the peace. “What’s wrong, Ladybug?” Cat broke the silent with an insistent voice.

She took a minute to respond but when she did she turned to look at him and their eyes connect. “I want someone to know.”

“Just one person,” she fiddled with her yo-yo. “In case something happens to me…”

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he didn’t hesitate to interrupt. There was no uncertainty in his voice. There was only confidence and certainty which made his words seem so strong—so true. But it was still out of his control.

“But if something does,” she calmly continued. “I want—no, I _need_ you to know.”

“Why me?”

She took a second before answering. Her feet swung back and forth below her and her eyes moved from looking at her lap to him once again. “I think you might understand…You might be the only one that understands, actually.” His eyebrows rose and she explained. “It’s hard to move back and forth between two lives. One always has to have sacrifices and be deemed as less important.”

“And it’s always the normal one,” Cat Noir finished and Ladybug grinned because he _did_ understand. “I get it.” He nodded. “I feel like I can be the person I actually am more so as Cat Noir than I ever could in real life.”

Ladybug understood that too. She hummed in affirmation and looked down again as her face flushed. “What if you were right? What if we do know each other without our masks on?”

“Then I would laugh at the irony.

It was his turn to be awkward then. Ladybug didn’t have to look at him to sense the tension as silence once again floated between them. “As long as we’re confessing things I suppose there’s something I should say.” She turned her head a bit to see him bite his lip as he said, “My flirting with you isn’t fake.”

She lifted her head and looked at him more clearly then. “I love you and I would risk my life every day just to fight beside you and be with you. And I know this sounds crazy but it is crazy. Our whole lives are crazy so why should this be any different?”

Ladybug was smiling then and she knew she was blushing but at the moment she didn’t care. As she looked into Cat Noir’s green eyes she saw more than the annoying pain in the ass he always seemed to be. She saw the loyal, brave guy that he actually was and that’s why she had no trouble responding in a completely normal voice, “You should take me out for coffee sometime.”

His eyes widened and his mouth fell open. “You like me back?”

“I’m saying that may be a possibility if I can get past your cat puns.” He looked really cute when he was flustered and Ladybug was enjoying it because for once she had the upper hand.

“I may be able to tone those down a bit,” he regained his composure and his signature smirk returned to his face. “But you forgot something pretty important. Ladybug and Cat Noir trying to go get a cup of coffee together wouldn’t be purrrfectly normal. The press sure would love it though.”

She ignored the pun and said simply, “Let’s not go as Cat Noir and Ladybug then.” Her eyes wandered to look at his ring. His eyes followed her and he saw that he had less than a minute left before he transformed back and so did she.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

Her eyes met his once again and everything about the situation felt right. “As sure as I’ll ever be.”

Their eyes were still connected as they transformed, knowing that whoever the other was, they would finally have someone else they could be themselves with—someone they didn’t have to lie to, but could tell everything to.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short continuation for those of you that require closure

It was quiet for what seemed like forever but was probably only a few seconds and Marinette couldn’t stand it. After the initial shock set in and her eyes had widened she gasped, “Adrien?”

“ _Marinette_?” He returned his fair share of awe.

Part of her wanted to blush. She wasn’t even sure if he knew her name before that. Then she remembered the situation she was in. Adrien Agreste was Cat Noir and he was sitting right in front of her.

Her hands came up to cover her mouth as she sighed, “ _Oh my god._ ”

At least he looked just as surprised as she. His mouth was agape as he did nothing but stare at her. Then his mouth closed and his eyebrows furrowed. “Wait, so when Ladybug had “a secret mission” to take care of….”

“Well Marinette and Ladybug couldn’t have both been there at the same time.” She responded immediately. Then after a second, “Speaking of which, Marinette has wanted to tell you for a while now that she totally saved your ass back then.”

“Oh my god.” He said with a slight laugh. The worry lines started to disappear from his face as he came to accept her identity.

Marinette on the other hand, rubbed her eyes in attempt to see if this was maybe all a dream. It seemed like something she would dream, but when she looked up Adrien was still there staring at her looking somewhat nervous as he hesitated to ask, “So do you still want to get that cup of coffee sometime?”

Her eyes met his and she wondered how she never saw it before. She spent so much time looking into both Adrien and Cat Noir’s eyes but never made the connection. It seemed so stupid now. “Even more so than before.”

“Really?” He smirks and Marinette thinks that yes, this definitely still is Cat Noir.

“Yeah well, Marinette has had a pretty big crush on Adrien for a while now.” His smirk grows into a wide smile that made her feel like the sun was shining down on her. “Oh don’t act like you’re surprised. I was a stuttering fool every time I tried to get a sentence out.”

His lips close to form a line—a still smiling one. “Adrien thought it was pretty cute.”

Marinette realized something then. She would probably never stutter to speak to him again. Not now that she knew he was her partner and one of her closest friends. In the moment, all of her mumbling and nervousness seemed ridiculous.

She wondered if she would ever tell him the ridiculous lengths she went to when she was trying to get Adrien to like her…maybe not, they were mostly embarrassing but now that she knew her crush was her best friend anything was possible.

They stayed there for hours, talking about anything and everything all the while happier than they had ever been.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading. If you would like me to write anything Miraculous or for any other fandom, leave a request in my ask on tumblr- saraphinethemysterious.tumblr.com


End file.
